All posts by Cort Johnson

(This blog was based on Dr. Peterson’s recent talk in Sweden. I added several sections such as the Mike Dessin interlude. They are outlined in parentheses.)

Dr. Daniel Peterson

Dr. Peterson was at the epicenter of Incline Village outbreak three decades ago that helped put chronic fatigue syndrome on the map. He’s been on the cutting edge of immunotherapies and antivirals ever since. He’s been using and gathering data on Ampligen for decades. He was the first to dare to use the powerful antiviral Vistide in ME/CFS and he used it successfully.

Dr. Peterson has been treated people with ME/CFS for over 30 years.

Long before VO2 max exercise equipment showed up in ME/CFS experts offices he was using it. He saved his spinal fluid samples for decades waiting for the right investigator to show up. He was the first to recognize the possibility that non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is increased in ME/CFS and pushed for studies.

His work with the Simmaron Research Institute has led him to collaborate with research groups around the world. A superb diagnostician, his recent characterization of ME/CFS patients into typical and atypical patients resulted in a successful spinal study – and introduced a subset researchers now need to be aware of. He and the Simmaron Research Institute produced the Immunology Workshop in an attempt to make immune testing a standard part of a physician’s protocol. He may have treated more people with ME/CFS than anyone else in the world.

Dr. Peterson recently spoke on severely ill ME/CFS in Sweden – a place he’s returned to again and again. Thankfully the Swedes have been videotaping their conferences for years. Let’s see what he had to say.

The Severely Ill

Peterson has a reputation for saying it like it is. He started off his talk stating that the really severely ill are like the elephant in the room everyone has danced around for years. Not because they’re not important but because so little is known about them. That, however, is changing.

Peterson pointed that prevalence estimates of the severely ill (25%) are simply guesses at this point. The really severely ill are so debilitated that they rare show up in doctor’s offices, and almost never participate in studies. They are often self-diagnosed and most lack insurance. Visits to the emergency room are rare simply because the emergency room has nothing to offer them and often makes them worse.

Interlude – Mike Dessin’s Story

Mike Dessin is one of the few severely ill ME/CFS patients to have fully recovered. He has an interesting tie-in with Dr. Peterson. When Mike was still relatively healthy he meet Dr. Peterson and afterwards sent his test results to him. Peterson never treated Mike but Mike’s test results were all wrong end and Peterson predicted Mike was in for rough times.

He couldn’t have been more correct. Mike’s health continued to worsen until he was forced to retreat first to his Dad’s house and finally, too sensitive to endure human company, into an apartment. For over a year Mike lived in a blacked out apartment room wearing eye shades even in the dark. He became unable to tolerate foods and became emaciated.

He’s provided a stunning account of what the very severely ill experience.

I was completely bedridden and unable to lean up more than a few inches. I was unable to read, write, understand words when spoken too, or complete a thought process. I would not be able to tolerate touch, whispers or even be able to sustain a mere thought process without getting over stimulated!!! If I was pushed too far mentally I would have a seizure from the over-stimulation.

He believes the overstimulation problems are the most problematic severe ME/CFS patients face.

I believe by far this is the most debilitating and confining element of severe M.E. This is what drives people with M.E. into complete isolation.

Simply getting to a doctor’s office was challenging. Wearing eye shades and ear muffs he said:

“I crawled into my dad’s car. We arrived at the doctor’s office where I crawled my way into the lobby. I laid in the lobby until my name was called. Dad lifted me up onto the table and the doctor walked in. At this point I could only stay conscious when I was stimulated so he put his hands on my shoulders to awaken me.”

The first sign that Mike was beginning to recover was finding a blob of fat on his tush. He began to recognize the items around him, to tolerate light, eat and read short sentences.

Mike Dessin is living proof that it’s possible to go right up to the edge and almost fully recover. He’s also a living example of how difficult it is treat the severely ill. Other patients visited his doctor yet none responded as Mike did.

Dr. Peterson’s characterization of the severe or very severe ill patients as being “bed bound” at some point in their illness brings up the question whether people who are bed bound at some point in their illness end up being the most difficult to treat. That idea would seem to fit the Dubbo findings which indicated that people with the most severe symptoms after an infection were most likely to come down with ME/CFS.

How sick did you get in the first couple of years – and how are you now? Take

Peterson noted, however, that ME/CFS is not unidirectional – that relapses and remissions can occur unpredictably.

(One of Dr. Peterson’s patients, Corinne Blandino, provides a poignant example of this unpredictability. When she first saw Dr. Peterson she had been wheelchair bound for many years. She improved to the point where she was able to get out and drive and travel but then suddenly and unexpectedly she relapsed. Later she was found to have a spinal fluid lesion.

A Health Rising survey indicated that a subset of patients experience dramatic remissions that are often at some point followed by relapses. Some have undergone several cycles of remissions and relapses.)

If you become bed bound at some point are you less likely to get better?

Peterson also noted that a CDC study found that unless significant recovery began in the first five years of the illness complete recovery is unlikely. When asked later about the importance of treating patients early he said it took him years to learn that the best approach with acute post-infection patients – people who have recently become ill – was to immediately aggressively treat them with immunoglobulin and antivirals.

What about longer term patients – the ones that are probably most prone to be severely ill. Dr. Horning cautioned that the CFI’s immune study showing drops in immune activity after three years needs to be replicated but suggested that immunomodulating drugs like Ampligen and Anakinra could be helpful in longer duration patients.

Dr. Peterson noted that the severely ill are the most difficult patients to treat and have the most guarded outcomes.

(Whitney Dafoe is a good example of how difficult to treat these patients can be. Whitney is located in the San Francisco Bay area – as ME/CFS knowledgeable a place as any. Whitney has had the resources to try many different options but all have failed and some have made him worse. The same was true for Mike Dessin. Glutathione IV’s, alpha lipoic acid and other detoxification treatments that have been helpful for some patients left him worse off and may have set the stage for his almost complete relapse.

Neither were rapid onset either. While both probably had infectious onset their slide to debilitating health was a gradual one. They just kept slipping backwards.

Many doctors probably don’t know where to start and are probably justifiably worried if they treat the severely ill aggressively they’re going to do something to kill them. These patients are delicate in the extreme.)

Basic Support

Dr. Peterson stated, however, there are basic things any doctor can do. Hydration, nutrition, appropriate physical therapy and “intervention based on present pathophysiology” are standard approaches to ME/CFS that can be employed. He recommended the Primer for Clinical Practitioners produced by the IACFS/ME for a good symptom by symptom approach to ME/CFS.

Peterson cautioned that rigorous pacing and energy conservation should not be considered the only treatments but strongly recommended them. He’s found the use of heart rate and blood pressure monitoring devices such as the Fitbit and Apple Watch to be helpful in keeping patients “in the zone”.

Regular use of saline can be helpful. A study underway will tell us more about salines effect on ME/CFS.

The effects of immobilization can be high. He recommend simple stretching to reduce muscle atrophy and joint problems; saline, midodrine and florinef to combat orthostatic intolerance; and IV nutrition to combat malnutrition. Peterson stated that he starts IV nutrition early.

Turning off the TV, reducing exposure to computer screens, wearing sunglasses, etc. can help with over stimulation.

In the discussion period Dr. Peterson said the question he always asks all patients is what is the one symptom you want most dealt with – just don’t choose fatigue. If brain-fog is a big problem he uses brain scans (SPECT, MRI) to inform his treatment options. Increased intracranial pressure might lead to the use of Diamox, inflammation could trigger the use of anti-inflammatories, brainstem problems could result in Nuvigil or even amphetamine-based drugs. If orthostatic problems show up that interfere with blood flows to the brain Dr. Peterson said he goes after those aggressively.

When asked about long term anti-inflammatory therapy Dr. Peterson said he’s seen good short-term responses (increased energy and mental clarity) with steroids but worried about their long term effects. He hasn’t had much experience with fecal transplants to assess them but feels he’s seen enough people trying stem cell transplants to suggest they’re not a viable option.

Drugs

Ampligen

The good news on the drug front is that Ampligen has been approved for use in Europe and Turkey. Ampligen is an immune stimulator and antiviral that’s been approved for limited use in the U.S. since 1988. It’s not easy to get, though, and is quite expensive. It’s one of the few drugs shown to increase NK cell activity. Dr. Peterson gave Ampligen a strong endorsement stating that it’s the only therapy he’s seen in his three decades of work that’s been able to return ME/CFS patients to full health. He gets about a 70% response rate (not all of which get such strong results.)

Anakinra

Dr. Peterson believes cytokine blockers could be helpful.

Anakinra – a soon to begin placebo-controlled, double-blinded trial in the Netherlands, Anakinra presents an intriguing possibility. Anakinra blocks the production of two cytokines, IL-1b and TNF-a, that are greatly increased in some ME/CFS patients. A safe drug, Dr. Peterson saw no reason not to test it and other cytokine blockers on the market right now.

(The Anakinra sudy authors noted that concentrations of cytokines in the blood rarely reflect what is happening in the brain. They proposed, therefore that the only way to accurately assess a cytokine’s contributions to a disease is to block them using drugs and see what happens.

Hope for the Future

Open Medicine Foundation Study – Dr. Peterson highlighted the Ron Davis/Open Medicine Foundation severely ill big data study and proposed that ME/CFS’s signature does indeed burn more brightly in them. While welcoming it, he added some cautions regarding the small sample size and the enormous data set that will be generated.

He added that newer technologies such as Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) will enable more and more patients to be assessed more cheaply. (Ron Davis has reported that most of the methodological issues the study posed have been taken care and the study will begin soon.)

CDC Study – The huge, (huge) CDC multisite study will search the serum and saliva of 800 people (!) for biomarkers using RNA/DNA analysis and other techniques. This phase will also include 40 severely ill patients. That’s just five people per site but these patients are hard to find, and Peterson said that even his office was having trouble finding them.

Australian Work – The Australians are also beginning to differentiate immunological markers in the severely ill from moderately ill and healthy controls.

The Lipkin/Hornig CFI immune study Dr. Peterson and the Simmaron Research Foundation participated in suggested that longer duration patients – who are probably more likely to be severely ill – may suffer from immune exhaustion. That finding needs to be replicated but if its true immune enhancers may be more likely to help the more severely ill.

In a recent Simmaron Tea event, Simmaron’s research collaborators talked about their work to propel discovery in our disease. In Part 2 of our summary, we review Dr. Konstance Knox’s presentation on her collaboration to identify insect-borne pathogens in ME/CFS patients.

Dr. Knox, CEO of Coppe Healthcare Solutions, is a longtime collaborator of Simmaron Research and Dr. Daniel Peterson. A contributor to Simmaron’s spinal fluid studies, she has done years of viral testing and research in patients with ME/CFS and other diseases.

From malaria to dengue fever to Lyme disease, “vector-borne” (primarily mosquito and tick-borne) illnesses are among the more difficult challenges facing the medical community. While they are often associated with developing countries, people in the U.S. are not immune from them. Over 20 insect-borne illnesses occur in the U.S. and more are emerging. A new tick-borne virus (Heartland Virus) was recently identified in the Midwest and Eastern U.S. and the dangerous tick-borne Pawossan virus was recently found in the eastern U.S. The first case of West Nile Virus in the Western Hemisphere was identified in New York in 1999. Five years later it was found in every state of the Union.

Many pathogens have been associated with ME/CFS but no one has looked at insect borne pathogens until now.

We know that infectious onset of chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) commonly occurs. We know it can be triggered by many different types of infections (Epstein-Barr virus, parvovirus, Giardia, SARS, hepatitis, etc.).

No study, however, has examined the extent of insect triggered illness or looked for regional clusters of such illnesses in chronic fatigue syndrome – until now.

Simmaron Research and Dr. Knox were awarded residual samples from the NIH XMRV study to comprehensively assess the incidence of insect-borne illnesses in ME/CFS patients across the U.S. Dr. Konstance Knox will lead the first study allowed to use the rigorously collected and characterized samples from the XMRV study.

The study builds on historical associations with ME/CFS that have been bypassed in recent years.

History Repeating Itself?

Insect-borne pathogens by their nature tend to form clusters of illness, and chronic fatigue syndrome, of course, first became well-known when clusters popped up in Incline Village/Lake Tahoe, Lyndonville and other cities in the early 1980’s. Dr. Knox reported that since 1934 at least 12 clusters have been identified in the U.S. including six in the Lake Tahoe region alone.

Could your “flu” have come from a mosquito?

Over the past 20 years there’s been little focus on clusters. From the Norwegian Giardia and Canadian SARS to the Ebolavirus outbreaks, however, every significant infectious outbreak has left behind a cluster of ME/CFS-like patients.

This study will look for clusters of regional insect-borne illnesses in ME/CFS patients in the U.S. It is driven by the hypothesis that for some people the “flu” they never got over was not caused by some innocuous cold bug but resulted from a mosquito or tick bite.

Comprehensiveness is a keyword for this study. Now only will it involve hundreds of ME/CFS patients from across the U.S., it will also examine almost all possible insect-borne illnesses found in the U.S. including some that are rarely studied. Studies of this size and scope have rarely been done in ME/CFS. The pathogens tested for include:

Coxiella burnetii – associated with cattle/goats/sheep – spread through dust – across the U.S.

Mosquito-borne Pathogens

West Nile Virus (WNV) – across the U.S.

Dengue Virus (DENV) – southeastern U.S./Texas

Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus (EEEV) – eastern U.S.

Western Equine Encephalitis Virus (WEEV) – west of the Mississippi

Louis Encephalitis Virus (SLEV) – eastern and central U.S.

California Encephalitis Virus (CEV) – California

La Crosse Virus (LCV) – California

Possibly High Misdiagnosis Rates

Dr. Knox believes misdiagnosis rates of these infections could be high. Some are poorly studied and most doctors don’t know about many of them, anyway. Plus unless severe symptoms are present many are rarely tested for . Sudden seizures or blindness may get you tested for West Nile virus, for instance, but more moderate flu-like symptoms it often produces probably will not.

Lyme disease is endemic in several parts of the U.S.

Post-infectious fatigue states following insect-borne infections appear to be common. Over 50% of people with an active West Nile Virus infection still experienced fatigue, cognitive problems, headaches and muscle weakness eighteen months later. Dengue fever, which has re-emerged in the southeastern United States is known to leave behind an ME/CFS-like condition in some patients. Descriptions of virtually all these infections note the “long-term sequelae”; i.e. the long term effects they can leave behind.

Resolving a Medical Mystery?

Plus, a virus like tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) could hold a clue to controversy that’s roiled the medical profession. Different groups assert that Lyme disease is either a) a relatively rare disease that responds well to antibiotics or b) a common disease that often does not respond to antibiotics and often persists in a chronic state.

Ticked Off? Simmaron is doing the research.

But what if they’re both looking in the wrong place? What if that tick bite transmitted a different infection along with the Borrelia – an infection that is resistant to antibiotics? Could the chronic Lyme disease patients are suffering from be a different, undiagnosed tick-borne illness?

Konstance Knox believes a good candidate may be tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV). TBEV is common in Europe and Asia but has been inadequately studied in the U.S. It can produce fatigue that can persist for years and it can be transmitted quickly. People who pluck off a tick before it’s been on them for 24 hours may be relieved that it hasn’t transmitted Borrelia, but TBEV– which is almost never tested for in the U.S. – can be transmitted in fifteen minutes.

Dr. Knox believes she will find a much greater prevalence of exposure to insect borne infections than anyone expects at this point. She hopes this will be the first of many studies examining these illnesses.

Associating ME/CFS with an increased prevalence of insect borne infections would, of course, further legitimize the disease, but the most intriguing impact of the study may be the recognition that some people have undiagnosed but treatable insect borne illnesses.

Resolving a Medical Catch-22

Patients with chronic Lyme disease and those with ME/CFS both suffer from a medical catch-22. If antibiotics don’t return people with Lyme disease to health it’s assumed they have psychological problems. On the flip side, if test results from patients with ME/CFS don’t indicate a recognized disease is present, then their illness must be in their heads as well.

Maybe, just maybe, an infection triggered by a recognized (or unrecognized) pathogen set disturbed the immune systems of both sets of chronically ill patients.

The Simmaron Research Institute believes research holds the answers patients need. This study is the first step. Join Simmaron’s quest for answers.

The Simmaron Research Foundation is out to redefine ME/CFS scientifically. In an recent event called A Simmaron Tea, collaborators talked with patients about their recent work to propel discovery in our disease. Part 1 of our summary will review Dr. Mady Hornig’s presentation, including some early results from Columbia’s ongoing gut studies. Part 2 will summarize Dr. Konstance Knox’s study of mosquito and tick-borne pathogens in ME/CFS patients. Stay tuned!

Simmaron has collaborated with Dr. Hornig on half a dozen studies unfolding the immuological anomalies in ME/CFS. A doctor-scientist by training, she is Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Director of Translational Research at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.Simmaron’s collaborations with Columbia on spinal fluid studies mark our signature contribution to ME/CFS research. Simmaron is continuing this research by funding a second phase of this work to compare metabolomics and proteomics in ME/CFS and MS patients.

Mady Hornig

“We now know that the same changes to the immune system that we recently reported in the blood of people with ME/CFS with long-standing disease are also present in the central nervous system,” Dr. Hornig

In her presentation, Dr. Hornig first reviewed the recent finding from the Chronic Fatigue Initiative-funded study run by the Columbia team: massive immune up regulation in short duration ME/CFS patients and immune down regulation in longer duration ME/CFS patients. The same immune factors, interestingly enough, that were upregulated early in the illness were squashed later in the illness. One key viral fighter called IFN-y that was hugely important in early ME/CFS but significantly down regulated in later ME/CFS pointed an arrow at a process called “immune exhaustion”.

Immune Exhaustion

The blood and spinal fluid findings matched

The first cerebrospinal fluid study using Dr. Peterson’s carefully collated samples found a similar pattern of immune system down regulation. That study (supported by CFI and Evans Foundation) included only longer duration patients. These two studies – the first to find similar issues in these two different compartments of the body – suggested that the immune system had taken a system wide punch to the gut.

What could cause this kind of immune exhaustion? Dr. Hornig stated it’s usually associated with chronic infections. In a scenario reminiscent of the wired and tired problem in ME/CFS, the immune system gets revved up, stays revved up and ultimately crashes.

That nice concurrence between immune findings in the spinal fluid and in the blood was encouraging, and the group is digging deeper into those CSF samples. Thus far a factor called cortisol binding globulin (CBG) has popped up in protein analyses. This intriguing factor which facilitates the transport of cortisol in the blood, has shown up in chronic fatigue syndrome before and families with certain polymorphisms in their CBG genes have increased fatigue and low blood pressure.

The Peterson Subsets

Earlier, Dr. Hornig noted Dr. Peterson’s exceptional foresight at collecting cerebrospinal fluid samples over many years and his skill at characterizing them. Now she appeared almost dumbfounded at his ability to pluck out subsets in his patients. At Dr. Peterson’s urging, the Columbia team examined the cerebrospinal fluid of what he called “classical” ME/CFS patients and “complex atypical” patients. Dr. Peterson has been talking about the “classical” set of ME/CFS patients vs other types of patients for years, but this was the first time his intuition was put to the test.

Finding subsets was crucial to the success of both studies

The classical patients typically present with infectious onset while ME/CFS in the atypical patients has been associated with post transfusion illness, cancers and other factors. No one before has suggested or attempted to determine if these patients differ biologically.

Dr. Peterson’s intuition that they would be different biologically proved to be correct. Columbia found dramatic differences in the CSF of classical versus atypical patients. Virtually all the immune factors tested were higher in the complex atypical vs the classical patients. The researchers are taking a deeper look at the cerebrospinal fluid in these two types of patients.

The findings also demonstrates how vital it is to tease out subsets. Without breaking patients up into early and longer duration subsets the findings of the CFI’s big immune study would have been negative. Similarly, without excluding Peterson’s subset of atypical patients, the cerebral spinal fluid study findings would have been insignificant. Given the size, expense and prominence of the CFI blood study, in particular, the negative results would have provided a significant impetus for the field to move away from the immune system.

Instead, there is now great interest in immune alterations in ME/CFS. The inability to ferret out biologically important subsets has undoubtedly smothered potentially important findings in ME/CFS in the past. In a short period of time the CFI investigators and Dr. Peterson have added two factors ME/CFS researchers need to consider in their studies: duration of illness and classical vs non-classical patients.

This is an example of “translational medicine” – going from the bench (lab) to the bedside (clinic) and vice-versa – at its best. It can only occur when researchers interact closely with practitioners they trust and vice-versa.

The Gut Work

Mady Hornig believes the gut may hold answers to ME/CFS. The preliminary gut results suggest she may be right.

Columbia’s Center for Infection and Immunity has completed the testing of samples from 50 patients and 50 healthy controls started in the CFI study and extended in an NIH-funded study to analyze ME/CFS microbiome. They are completing analysis of the samples now.

They’re finding evidence of significant changes in the gut flora of ME/CFS patients vs healthy controls. For one, altered levels of butyrate producing bacteria have been found in the ME/CFS patients. Noting that similar differences have been found in autoimmune diseases, Dr. Hornig proposed that an autoimmune process may be fueling the symptoms in a subset of patients.

Another finding suggests substantial serotonin dysregulation may be present in ME/CFS. (Most of the serotonin in our body is found in our gut.) Dr. Hornig described serotonin as a major immune regulator. Thus far they’ve found that serotonin is more likely to be undetectable in shorter duration patients than longer duration patients, and those reduced serotonin levels are associated with increased immune activity including a very significant increase in IFN-Y – an important antiviral factor.

Tryptophan is metabolized to either serotonin or kynurenine. If serotonin levels are low, the levels of kynurenine are likely high. Plentiful serotonin results in feelings of well-being, emotional resilience, and immune balance. High levels of kynurenine, on the other hand, have been associated with a host of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Hornig has called the kynurenine pathway her favorite pathway because it’s been implicated in so many diseases.

The low serotonin findings in ME/CFS were apparently significant enough for Columbia to begin developing new tests to more accurately assess the presence of kynurenine metabolites. It appears that they’ve been successful in doing that, and we can expect more fine-tuned analyses of the role that pathway plays in ME/CFS.

In discussion afterward the presentation, Dr. Hornig said she was struggling a bit how to relay ideas of low resilience to stress in ME/CFS – some of which low serotonin levels could play a role in – without ruffling feathers. She’s certainly not advocating the SNRI’s or other antidepressants in ME/CFS. In fact, she noted that she was sure ME/CFS patients were amongst the “treatment resistant depression” patients she’d seen when working as a psychiatrist early in her career.

The fix for the serotonin problem – if it is validated in a subset of ME/CFS patients – will clearly come from another direction. A recent review article suggested using the gut flora to affect serotonin-based brain disorders and that is probably the track Dr. Hornig will take. She said she is especially keen to look at the effects of nutraceuticals, probiotics and fecal transplants in ME/CFS.

Dr. Hornig is clearly intellectually excited by her work, but one thing that happened during her presentation indicated her strong emotional connection to it as well. The presentation of a small quilt to her from ME/CFS patients strongly affected her and left her having to momentarily gather herself emotionally. It was a surprisingly moving moment.

Dr. Hornig sounded confident about the direction of their research and stated that they were very much looking forward to what the next few years will bring. She said she was cautiously optimistic that the IOM and P2P reports, the positive immune study, plus the signs that the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) may be interested in taking ME/CFS on, indicate that a turnaround for ME/CFS funding is in store.

Help Simmaron continue to fund this pivotal work, as we seek to deepen immune findings in ME/CFS and turn them into potential treatments.

Magnesium may be the most commonly used supplement in chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. Some people think a smoldering Epstein-Barr Virus infection may be common in ME/CFS. In something of a shocker, recent research into EBV and magnesium suggests that low magnesium and EBV infections may sometimes go hand in hand.

The authors had recently characterized a primary immunodeficiency disease in people with chronic Epstein-Barr virus infection called XMEN.

XMEN is a rare genetic disease that combines low magnesium levels and Epstein-Barr virus infection. Could it help explain ME/CFS?

XMEN disease is a rare genetic disease mostly appearing in men that is caused by mutations in the MAGTI magnesium transporter gene. People with XMEN disease suffer from increased infections including upper respiratory infections, sinusitis, otitis media, viral pneumonia, diarrhea, epiglottitis, and pertussis.

They also typically have high levels of Epstein-Barr virus infection and are at increased risk of coming down with EBV associated lymphoma.

The link to lymphoma and the recurrent infections were explained when they discovered that increased magnesium levels are required for natural killer (NK) and T-cell activation.

XMEN disease is not chronic fatigue syndrome and vice versa, but the two diseases may share four intriguing factors: EBV reactivation, poorly functioning NK and T-cells, the need for magnesium supplementation and possibly increased risk of lymphoma.

The Magnesium – Immune System Connection

The vast majority (95%) of the magnesium in our body is bound in our cells but it’s the 5% that’s unbound that makes the difference in our immune response. The XMEN patients studied – some of whom had developed lymphoma – had normal levels of bound magnesium in their cells but reduced levels of unbound magnesium.

Interestingly, all experienced repeated minor viral infections and had elevated levels of active EBV in their blood. Tests indicated that their immune systems knew the virus was there – it was producing normal levels of the EBV specific memory T-cells – but their NK and cytotoxic T-cells – the cells tasked with killing EBV – were having trouble killing it.

The question was why. First they looked at the receptors on the NK and T-cells that activate them in the presence of EBV infected cells. If the receptors are not present or are damaged the cells are effectively blind to EBV.

They found reduced levels of the NKG2D receptors needed to turn NK and T cells into killing machines. They knew the genetics of the XMEN patients prevented them from taking up magnesium properly. When they pumped their NK and T-cells full of magnesium (by culturing them in magnesium sulfate) the NKG2D receptors started working again. The cytotoxic T cell killing problem was partially resolved and the NK cell killing problem was fully resolved.

Low levels of free magnesium turned off NK and T-cells – and allowed EBV to take up residence in the cell.

They also found, importantly, that reducing magnesium levels abolishes NKG2D activation in normal T-cells; i.e. proper magnesium levels are needed for T-cell functioning. (Other receptors on NK and T-cells were not affected by magnesium levels – only these specific receptors.)

Next the researchers tested their hypothesis on humans. Upon being provided oral magnesium gluconate small but significant increases in free magnesium and a “modest restoration” in NKG2D levels were seen in an XMEN patient. A decline in the number of his B-cells harboring EBV suggested that his NK and perhaps T-cells were, indeed, more effectively targeting EBV infected B-cells.

When the patient went off the magnesium supplementation the situation reversed itself.

Further testing indicated that infusions of magnesium sulfate and oral supplementation of magnesium threonate were more effective.

This was an early study (which did make it into Science) but it suggests that something as simple as magnesium supplementation may reduce the rate of infections and possibly the risk of lymphoma in XMEN patients.

EBV infections don’t necessarily lead to or are even associated with these problems: only one type of EBV patient was shown to have them in this study. People with chronic active EBV infections (CAEBV) or something called X-linked lymphoproliferative disease (XLP) did not have reduced basal free levels of Mg2+ or problems with magnesium transport.

The ME/CFS Connection (???)

ME/CFS and FM are not XMEN disease. They’re not rare and active EBV is not commonly found. Nor does magnesium supplementation, as common as it is, lead to a cure as it might for XMEN disease.

Because neither the MAGTI transporters or the NKG2D receptors found to play a role in XMEN disease have been assessed in ME/CFS, we have no idea if these transporters are functioning correctly in ME/CFS or FM.

Several features in ME/CFS and XMEN disease overlap…

Research into rare, genetic diseases, however, often gives us insight into more common disorders. That could be the case with ME/CFS.

EBV triggered infectious mononucleosis, after all is common in ME/CFS, natural killer and T-cells are dysfunctional, magnesium supplementation is rampant, and some ME/CFS patients do very well on antivirals targeting EBV. Recurrent (upper respiratory) infections can be found in some ME/CFS patients as well and increased rates of lymphoma have been found in early studies. (Could the increased rates of lymphoma found ME/CFS due to undiagnosed XMEN disease?). Some researchers and doctors believe a special kind of EBV reactivation often occurs in ME/CFS.

Further studies in this area could impact ME/CFS or FM in several ways. They could elucidate problems with magnesium transportation and they could uncover other ways to fight EBV.

Indeed, the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID believes that further research into magnesium associated EBV reactivation could help patients with chronic EBV disorders.

Whether or not ME/CFS falls into chronic EBV infected group largely depends on who you’re talking to. An EBV ME/CFS researcher was, however, recently given a major NIH grant to study EBV infection and the Simmaron Research Foundation is engaged in similar research (see below).

The Future

We are going to learn a lot more how about how magnesium is transported into and out of cells, though. Lenardo and Chaigne-Delalande are currently examining how other magnesium transporters work. That’s good news for diseases like ME/CFS and fibromyalgia in which magnesium supplementation is common. They’ll also continue to examine magnesium’s role in chronic EBV infection.

(One question not examined in the study was whether EBV be somehow damaging magnesium transporters in order to turn off NK and T cell activity…)

More Epstein-Barr Virus News

The smoldering EBV infection hypothesis for ME/CFS recently got a boost when Ohio State University professor Dr. Vance Williams got a major NIH grant to study it. Williams earlier studies indicated that unusual EBV proteins rarely seen in humans can produce many of the symptoms found ME/CFS. Williams multi-year, multi-million dollar NIH study will further investigate the effects these proteins are having in this disease.

The Simmaron Research Foundation‘s NIH study examining the extent of autoimmunity and non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in people with ME/CFS and their family members will focus on similar ground. This study will determine whether antibodies to the same EBV proteins Williams uncovered in ME/CFS are present. Finding antibodies to these unusual proteins would a) implicate EBV as a key player in ME/CFS and b) strongly suggest ME/CFS is an autoimmune disorder.

“I was completely revitalized. Suddenly, I could be sociable again. I would go to work, go home, eat dinner and feel restless.” An ME/CFS patient in the study

The Rituximab story started in 2004 when Fluge and Mella two Norwegian oncologists noticed that some of their cancer patients with chronic fatigue syndrome were doing very well on a drug called Rituximab. In fact, they were doing too well. Not only had their cancer gone into remission but so had their chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms.

In this study Fluge and Mella tweaked their original treatment plan to produce more powerful and lasting results

Fast forward 11 years, one case series and another study later and we find Fluge and Mella not just treating ME/CFS patients with Rituximab but aggressively tweaking their formula to achieve a lasting remission in the responders and to provoke a remission in treatment resistant patients.

In the initial Rituximab trial published in 2011 Fluge and Mella gave 30 chronic fatigue syndrome patients two Rituximab infusions two weeks apart and then followed them for 12 months. Three months into the trial there was no evidence the drug was working but 6-12 months later two-thirds of the participants had responded and some had responded in truly dramatic fashion. Years of disability and pain dropped away as some patients almost miraculously achieved normal lives.

Many of the responders, however relapsed later. In this study Fluge and Mella tried to do something about that. They gave Rituximab to 29 ME/CFS patients more often and for longer and they followed them for longer.

Rituximab

Rituximab induces B-cells to kill themselves by attaching to the CD20 receptor on them. It also enhances the ability of natural killer cells to kill them.

Originally developed and FDA approved to treat cancer (lymphoma) Rituximab is also FDA approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis and is used off-label to treat multiple sclerosis, lupus, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, autoimmune anemia, Sjogren’s Syndrome and many others. Chronic fatigue syndrome may be the first disease outside of known autoimmune disorders, that Rituximab has been tested in.

After the two infusions in the first two weeks (500 mg/m2 (maximum 1000 mg) Rituxmab was given four more times at 3, 6, 10 and 15 months (500 mg/m2 (maximum 1000 mg) and the patients were followed for no less than three years. The participants assessed their symptom levels every two weeks and health related quality of life using the SF-36 form.

Lymphocyte subpopulations, including CD19 positive B-cells were assessed before the infusions and at 3, 6, 10, 15, 20, 24, 30 and 36 months.

In an attempt to boost their response seven of the patients who showed slow and gradual improvement after twelve months received up to six additional infusions at two month intervals.

The Participants

This was Norway but the study population looked like that found anywhere else. Sixty-nine percent of the participants were women and 31% were men. The average age was forty and the average duration of illness was nine years. The severity of their illness ranged from mild (n=5), mild/moderate (n=4); moderate (mainly housebound) (n-13), moderate/severe (n=4), severe (bedridden) (n=3). Almost 60% associated an infection with their illness, 34% did not and 7% were not sure.

Seven patients had had Rituximab before but relapsed later and three had tried it and received no or a minimal response. Nine participants had been in the placebo arm of the former study. All met both the Fukuda and Canadian Concensus Criteria for ME/CFS.

The Results

The Responders

As in the first trial over 60% of the participants reported significant clinical improvement; i.e. they achieved an improvement in their Fatigue score ≥ 4.5 for at least six consecutive weeks. Fourteen or 78% of those who did were described as “major responders” and four (22%) were described as moderate responders.

More was indeed better as many of the responders maintained their response a year and a half after receiving their last treatment

Some evidence suggested that the major responders were close to functioning normally or in some cases were fully recovered. With their average SF-36 scores showing remarkable increases it appeared that many of the responders really responded. (More is better with the SF-36).

The average social functioning score – which denotes how much a person is inhibited from functioning socially – increased from 18.4 to 70.8, the average vitality score tripled from 17.7 to 61.3, the average physical functioning score – probably a really difficult one to improve on in ME/CFS – almost doubled (42.9 – 83.3), and bodily pain scores more than doubled (32.2 to 72.3).

At the end of the trial the responders average SF-36 score meet population norms; i.e. you wouldn’t be able, using this test, to tell them from healthy people. It didn’t mean they were all healthy- the test is not precise enough for that – but they were much, much improved.

Some limited Sensiware armband data validated the findings: the number of steps the responders took at the end of the trial indicated they were about as active as normal people.

The Non-Responders

The ten people who did not respond – really didn’t respond; no significant increases in any of the SF-36 scores were seen. It appears that most of the responders do pretty well while nothing much happens for the non-responders.

Maintaining Health – the Maintenance Strategy Mostly Works

The maintenance strategy of providing Rituximab more often to produce a longer-last effect was mostly successful. Again, those who responded to it responded well. Those did not respond – really did not respond.

The duration of the response zoomed in the responders from 25 weeks (half a year) in the first study to almost 100 weeks (two years) when taking maintenance infusions in the second study. The responders stayed healthier longer once they were off the drug as well. Three years after beginning the treatment and a year and a half after their last infusion the treatment was sticking for about 60% of the responders. Some former patients were clearly well.

“Eleven of the 18 responders were still in remission three years after beginning the treatment, and some have now had no symptoms for five years,” Fluge.

B-cell tests indicating the B-cell numbers of all the responders were back to normal suggested their systems may have been reset. If they’d had an autoimmune problem it had disappeared during their long period of immune suppression.

The maintenance dose did not enhance the duration of the response in everyone, however; about forty percent had relapsed a year after receiving their last dose.

The More Is Not Better (Except When it Is) …..Group

Giving Rituximab more often (at the end of one year) to patients who’d had a moderate initial response to it failed to turn them into major responders. One person, however, who didn’t respond to the two-dose first trial, did respond to five dose second trail.

More doses of Rituximab early on, then, might help but if a year of increased dosage is not helping then it’s time to try something else. Why some people respond and others don’t isn’t clear. Sophisticated immune analyses, however, are underway to attempt to figure that out.

Concerns

Placebo Response

There’s concern about the lack of a placebo group. No treatment will ever get approval without having a placebo controlled study but I wonder how serious the placebo concern is. The long time to the response seen (several months) and the long duration of the response argue (a year and a half in some) argues against a placebo response making a difference for many.

Study Size

A bigger concern is probably the small study size. Thus far we have response data on a small slice of the ME/CFS population in an ethnically homogeneous region. (The upside to doing the study in Norway is that they can apparently get things done pretty quickly; the downside is that the country simply doesn’t have the ethnic diversity the U.S. has.)

The biggest questions facing the two studies done so far is how closely the study participants resemble the ME/CFS population as a whole.

We can say that Rituximab works well and sometimes very, very well in a subset of patients but we don’t know how big that subset is. I expect the response rates to drop as more types of ME/CFS patients sample the drug. Even a thirty or twenty percent response rate would be very exciting.

The results from the multicenter trial will not be available until 2017 or 18 – two or three years. If the 152 person trial goes well it’s hard to imagine – at least from this layman – that large trials will not quickly open up in the U.S. The infrastructure and the network of physicians needed to engage in a major trial is present. They will simply need access to the drug. With all the federal reports citing the need for better treatments a way has to be found to get the” big lug” to mount a major trial.

The Severely Ill Study

Thus far in a separate study none of the four severely ill ME/CFS patients in a small open-label study have responded to Rituximab. Four more patients are being assessed. They do not encourage the use of this very strong drug in the severely ill at this time.

The Autoimmune Question – If it Looks Like A Duck…

Chronic fatigue syndrome with it’s female predominance, it’s often infectious trigger, it’s symptoms and the changes that sometimes occur in pregnancy has always looked like it might be, at least in part, an autoimmune disorder.

Fluge and Mella’s autoimmune hypothesis ties several aspects of ME/CFS together in a neat package. First an infection triggers the body to produce antibodies that target the blood vessels and stop them from delivering normal amounts of blood to the tissues. The drop in oxygen to the mitochondria resulting from explains the fatigue, lowered aerobic capacity and exercise problems. Given the brain’s enormous need for oxygen it also explain the brain fog. Several studies back up the muscle and brain issues – the question is whether antibodies are the result.

If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck… is it a duck?

Thus far the Rituximab findings suggest autoantibodies play a role at least in a subset of patients. As before the responders took their sweet time – several months – to respond to the drug. That several month time lag, though, is about how long it would take Rituximab to clear auto-antibodies from the body. That time-lag strongly suggests an autoimmune process is going on.

Increased rates of autoimmunity (41%) in the first-degree relatives of the patients buttressed the autoimmune hypothesis; a genetic predisposition is often present in autoimmune disorders.

If auto-antibodies are the key Fluge and Mella and others, however, have not found them yet. They do have a hypothesis, though that ties several aspects of ME/CFS together in a neat package. They believe an infection triggers the body to produce antibodies that target the blood vessels and stop them from delivering normal amounts of blood to the tissues. The drop in oxygen to the mitochondria resulting from the reduced blood flows explains the fatigue, lowered aerobic capacity and exercise problems. Given the brain’s enormous need for oxygen it also explains the brain fog. it’s a theory with a nice foundation: several studies back up

We should see a paper explaining Fluge/Mella’s hypothesis soon and studies embedded in the 150 person trial will help assess whether their hypothesis is correct.

Norway!

It’s worth noting again what a remarkable role the small country of Norway has played in this unlikely scenario. Size doesn’t always matter – and one suspects that it may be a hindrance in some cases. Two Norwegian physicians birthed the Rituximab findings, Norwegian advocates raised money and pressured the Norwegian government to do what nobody else has been able to do – fund and produce a very expensive and large treatment trial. Not only did they do that but they did much more quickly than anyone else.

It’s a scary thing to have to depend on a small country with almost no history of ME/CFS research or on private donors in another country to follow up on the most exciting treatment finding in ME/CFS’s history. If Rituximab works out – and it’s hard to imagine that it will not at least in part work out – the worldwide ME/CFS community will owe the two doctors, the Norwegian advocates and the Norwegian government a huge debt.

The UK is on board. It may be that UK advocates – driven by their awful circumstances – try harder when it comes to jumping on a hot treatment finding. Since June, 2013 Invest in ME has raised over $600,000 US dollars for its own Rituximab trial. According to Dr. Jonathan Edwards, who pioneered Rituximab’s use in autoimmune disorders, Invest in ME has enough money now for a small trial involving 30-40 patients.

That’s great and Norway has already produced a much larger study and is years ahead of everyone. That quick start is important given how long these treatment trials take and how long it can take to get approval for a drug.

A Rituximab Timeline

Let’s look at a Rituximab timeline. Fluge and Mella identified their first Rituximab responsive ME/CFS patient in 2004. Their three person case study was published in 2009. Their 30 person placebo-controlled study was published in Oct. 2011. They began the 152 person multicenter trial at the end, if I remember correctly, of 2014. That study should end in late 2016/early 2017. It will take some time to analyze the results and then get them published. Perhaps we’ll see a paper in early 2018.

You can argue that moving from a small case-study in 2009 to a large multi-center trial beginning in 2014 is good progress and it probably is, but it’s still five years in the life of an ME/CFS patient.

The Big Lug

Much of the innovative research, both inside and outside the public sphere, is occurring in the U.S. but the Rituximab trials might never have happened for all the work that’s been done here. That’s something that ought to give one pause. A possible new treatment for a disorder with no FDA-approved drugs occurs and the biggest and richest country in the world does nothing.

The country with the biggest medical system in the world hasn’t figured in the Rituximab story at all yet

How does that happen? Norway got funding from both advocates and the government. UK advocates have raised $600,000 by themselves. No group has mounted a serious effort in the U.S. and federal funding for clinical trials is difficult to achieve.

It’s pretty clear right now that nothing’s going to happen around Rituximab in the U.S. until the Norwegian trial ends up in mid 2017. Say the Norwegian results published in 2018 are impressive and the U.S. gets a major year-long trial started in early 2019. The results are in by mid-2020, they’re submitted for publication in early 2021, are published in mid-2021. The FDA examines the data from the US, Norwegian and UK trials and in early 2022 seven years from now, approves Rituximab for use in a subset of ME/CFS patients.

When U.S. – because of bureaucratic or institutional barriers or whatever, is simply sitting on the its hands everything takes longer. In another disorder the Oct 2011 Fluge/Mella study might have sparked an extensive U.S. treatment trial in 2012. The first results of that multi-year trial might have been published in say 2015. In this scenario with the big Norwegian study underway we’d have enough data to apply for FDA approval in two years.

An Unlikely Ally

The two studies have created an unlikely ally. Simon Wessely – the foremost proponent of the idea that ME/CFS is caused by poor coping and deconditioning – has been impressed enough by the results to call for a large trial. “There is now a strong case” he said “to be made for a larger trial”. Whatever you think of Wessely that’s a very helpful statement coming from a man of his background.

The silver in the lining of the United Kingdom’s embrace of CBT/GET is the extent to which they’ve funded it. The UK, per capita, has been far more generous with ME/CFS funding than the U.S. and they’ve shown the willingness to put significant dollars (or pounds) behind a treatment trial. Drug trials in the U.S., on the other hand, appear to be almost solely funded by pharmaceutical companies. Wessely – recently knighted – has a lot of pull in the U.K. Could Wessely prod the UK government to get behind an enlarged Invest in ME Rituximab study? That would a be flip of major proportions.

Conclusions

It was a remarkable thing to see almost half the study population exhibiting normal or near normal SF-36 and activity scores after three years. Even if this is a small study the almost identical response rates (a strong 60 plus percent) found in it and the first study are encouraging.

This study also demonstrated that give doses more often eliminates many of the relapses that dogged the patients in the first study and it presented more evidence that this powerful drug is generally safe for use in ME/CFS patients.

As promising as the results of the first two studies are it should be noted that they are small studies and surprises may show up in the larger study underway. It is using the same improved treatment protocol used in this study. It’s results will probably not be published for several years.

In the meantime, this study prompted a major CBT advocate to call for larger studies and a smaller UK trial is in the process of being produced. (You can support that study here.)

“I firmly believe that new technology drives science and generally has a much larger impact than individual basic science discoveries.” Stephen Elledge

Breakthrough findings in an individual disorder are special, but developing new technology that expands our ability to understand many diseases is something else entirely. It provides the potential to make a difference on a truly vast scale. Those types of breakthroughs are coming with increasing frequency.

Technological advances in medicine are appearing at a stunning rate.

Last month Mark Davis and his huge immune machine determined that exposures to herpesviruses, in particular, vastly altered the states of our immune system.

The astonishing thing for us in the ME/CFS community is that two of the three researchers mentioned are also working on ME/CFS.

Pathogen Detection on Steroids

“Now that we can look at all viruses, it’s a complete game-changer.”

Steven Elledge, a Harvard researcher, is one of them. He pioneered a technique that quickly and thoroughly determines both the antibodies present in the blood and the strength of that response. Antibodies are produced by B-cells in response to pathogens. Because they continue to be produced for decades after an infection antibodies provide a library of past infective events. Until now, though, the search for antibodies has been a plodding, arduous one.

Elledge’s new test presents a quantum leap in screening for pathogens.

Pre-Elledge – researchers and doctors determined whether antibodies to a pathogen are present one antibody at a time. Post-Elledge – they’ll be able to look for all known antibodies to all 216 viruses known to infect humans a person – in a single blood sample – for about $25. This isn’t just a major leap in efficiency – it’s a quantum leap.

It doesn’t get much better than creating breakthrough results cheaply. Ian Lipkin called the feat “a technological tour de force and stated “This is a powerful new research tool.”

The new technology was used to screen for antibody reactions to more than 1,000 strains of 206 viruses in over 500 people across the globe. It found that the average person had been exposed to about ten viruses but that some had been exposed to as many as 25.

Not surprisingly, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) lead the list. Almost 90% of the people tested had been exposed to this ubiquitous virus. Herpesviruses, rhinoviruses, adenoviruses, influenza viruses, respiratory syncytial virus, and enteroviruses were most commonly found viruses. Not surprisingly, the older you get, the more viruses you’ve been exposed to.

The test is not perfect – it misses some very low-level antibodies and may not pick up antibodies in people with depleted immune systems (such as some ME/CFS patients). Antibody responses that decline over time also make it more difficult to find antibodies to very early infections. While the test was completely accurate for people exposed to HIV or hepatitis C, it uncovered evidence of chicken-pox exposure in only about 25-30% of those who’d had it.

Elledge said, however, that improvements to the test will enable it to pick up those antibodies.

He’s not stopping at viral antibodies. He’s working on similar tests to assess autoantibodies and antibodies to bacteria and fungi.

The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Connection

“That’s what happens when you invent technology — you can’t imagine what people will do with it. They’re so clever.” Steven Elledge

Autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis – long believed to have a pathogen connection – and cancer were the first diseases mentioned in connection with this technology. The test is so cheap, though – a mere $25 – there’s no reason it can’t be run in many diseases – including those for which pathogens are not suspected. A virology professor at University of Nottingham, Dr. Will Irving, noted it could be valuable in any disease of “unknown etiology “.

“Indeed in any other disease of unknown aetiology – identifying specific virome reactivity could give a major clue as to a causative agent.” Dr. Will Irving

Antibodies to over 200 viruses scanned – in a drop of blood

Irving noted the test may be helpful in determining the cause of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), for instance. PBC is a liver disease that produces extreme fatigue, autonomic dysfunction and a symptom profile very much like ME/CFS. It’s one of the fatiguing disorders Dr. Julia Newton has been studying alongside ME/CFS. Irving suggested the new test could help determine if PBC is triggered by viruses.

The recent antibody findings in postural tachycardia syndrome – and the infectious triggers commonly found in that disorder – make it another obvious choice. Fibromyalgia – which is often triggered by a virus – is another possibility.

As to ME/CFS – Elledge is already studying it. He’s one of the new researchers, Suzanne Vernon, a co-author of the new study, enticed into the ME/CFS field as Research Director of the Solve ME/CFS Initiative. Vernon got Elledge to study ME/CFS simply for the cost of shipping samples to him. (ME/CFS patients were in the Science study.)

The Solve ME/CFS Initiative announced Elledge was trolling ME/CFS patients blood for antibodies using his new technique last year. ME/CFS is obviously on the Harvard team’s minds. Tomasz Kula, a co-author of the study, highlighted chronic fatigue (syndrome) as a prime candidatefor this technology.

“We have developed a technology that reveals all the viruses targeted by the antibodies in a blood sample. We plan to use this technology to examine the blood from people with and without CFS in order to find viruses that are associated with CFS. We hope this study will identify a pathogen as a likely causative agent of the disease in order to focus future study.

We also have a related technology that reveals all the targets of autoantibodies in a blood sample. We also plan to apply this technology to the sample blood samples to look for evidence of immune dysfunction in people with CFS.

In a recent Facebook post Suzanne Vernon talked about ME/CFS and the Science study.

“It was so fun to work with this remarkable team on this really cool approach to test for more than 200 viruses (and more than 1,000 virus strains!) in a drop of blood. Blood from ME/CFS patients was included along with blood samples from around the world. George Xu, Steve Elledge and I will continue to dive into the data to see if there are virus patterns unique to ME/CFS.”

In response to a query whether the technology would allow research to discern ME/CFS clusters based on enteroviral, herpesvirus, or mixed patterns of infection, Suzanne replied “Exactly”.

Stephen Elledge

“I have always wanted to make an impact on the world, to have my life on earth count for something,” he said. “By contributing to basic research, I hope my work can accelerate discoveries to improve the lives and health of people.” Steven Elledge

Stephen Elledge Ph.D., a geneticist, runs the almost 30-person Elledge Lab at Harvard Medical School. He’s co-authored almost 300 papers over the past thirty years. He was drawn to biology and genetics early by the promise the work had to transform biology. ”

“The potential for transforming biology was very clear, even stunning. And I decided I wanted to be a part of that.” Steven Elledge

In 2012 he (and another ME/CFS researcher, Dr. Michael Houghton) were awarded the Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Science.

Not Ready for Prime Time – Yet

The test has not been commercialized yet. The study, published in one of the most prestigious science journals in the world, has gotten enormous publicity which will surely help develop the technology into a commercial product.

Cutting Edge Work From Within the ME/CFS Community

From Unutmaz to Elledge to Mark and Ron Davis the ME/CFS community is getting access to top researchers and their cutting-edge technology. It’s also in some cases getting access to technology being developed specifically to understand this disorder.

Gordon Broderick’s modeling efforts at the Institute for Neuro-immune Medicine, Ron Davis’s development of ways to analyze the HLA regions of our genome, and the methods Julia Newton developed to analyze muscle cell activity were all developed in-house to better understand ME/CFS.

“The discovery of the central nervous system lymphatic system may call for a reassessment of basic assumptions in neuroimmunology and sheds new light on the aetiology of neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases associated with immune system dysfunction.”

In what’s being touted as a “medical game-changer” researchers at the University of Virginia have uncovered a new way the brain interacts with the immune system.

The researchers were looking for ways immune cells recirculate within the meninges – the protective membranes that envelop the brain – when they stumbled upon an amazing finding in this day and age – a major new anatomical feature of the brain.

The lymph system and the brain: before and after: from Univ of Virginia

First, they found high concentrations of immune cells around the dural sinuses – veins that drain blood and cerebral spinal fluid from the brain and empty into the jugular vein. A closer look revealed that high numbers of T-cells were aligned linearly along endothelial cell structures along the sinuses. That finding piqued their interest: endothelial cells line the two major transportation venues in the body – the blood vessels and the lymphatic system. Could they have stumbled on an undiscovered pathway between the body and the brain?

Further testing revealed the structures were part of a undiscovered section of lymphatic system in the brain. That was a shocker. The anatomy of the brain, they thought, had been fully mapped years ago.

“I really did not believe there are structures in the body that we are not aware of. I thought the body was mapped,” said Dr. Jonathan Kipnis, who runs the University of Virginia lab where the discovery was made. “I thought that these discoveries ended somewhere around the middle of the last century. But apparently they have not.”

Then again, the lymph system has historically been a bit of an odd man out. First described by Hippocrates in 400 BC, it was rediscovered as the “milky veins in the gut of a well fed dog” in the 17th century but then was virtually ignored until 1937 when Howard Florey showed that lymph nodes become enlarged in inflammation.

Getting the Garbage Out

The finding helps to solve a longstanding mystery. The brain is a busy place. That almost by definition means its going to produce a lot of byproducts. But where did they go? Absent knowledge of any means of getting rid of toxins, the prevailing hypothesis for many years was that the brain broke down the toxins to their essential elements and then reused them. That hardly passed the smell test but it wasn’t until 2012 that one part of the brains waste removal system – the glymphatic system – was identified.

Now we know that a traditional – and presumably much more efficient – lymphatic system also exists in the brain. (If I got it right, the authors believe the glymphatic fluids probably drain into the new lymphatic system.)

The location of this part of the lymphatic system – situated alongside a major blood vessel – was difficult to see. Unless it was dissected in just right manner it was invisible.

The lymphatic network found that runs from the eyes to over the olfactory lobe to the sinuses.

Filtration System

The lymphatic system transports immune cells to lymph nodes – central immune staging areas packed with immune cells. Lymph nodes are also responsible for filtering out foreign particles and cancer cells. Disturb the lymphatic system and you can get a bollixed up immune response and a toxin laden system.

Two different types of lymphatic vessels exist: vessels with valves that collect fluid and vessels without valves which fluid passes through. The lymphatic vessels found in this study are valveless- they’re designed to let the lymph fluid pass right though the meninges into the neural sinuses and into the lymph nodes.

High Potential

The filtration part of the lymph system appears to be getting the most play right now.

How’s your filtration system doing?

The potential this system – or rather the potential a dysfunction of this system – could have on disease is large. In fact one of the researchers went so far as to say that it was hard to imagine a neuro-immune disorder that was not impacted by this pathway.

“We believe that for every neurological disease that has an immune component to it, these vessels may play a major role. Hard to imagine that these vessels would not be involved in a [neurological] disease with an immune component.”

He hadn’t been drinking too much bubbly. Maiken Nedergaard, director of the University of Rochester Center for Translational Neuromedicine agreed saying that “Essentially all neurodegenerative diseases are associated with the accumulation of cellular waste products. Understanding and ultimately discovering how to modulate the brain’s system for removing toxic waste could point to new ways to treat these diseases.”

Picture central nervous system inflammation. Free radicals are punching holes in membranes. Cells are dying. Pathogens are wreaking havoc. The “garbage” that all this activity produces in the form of dead and damaged cells and pathogens needs to be flushed out of the system before more damage results.

The classic example of a bollixed up CNS lymphatic system causing disease could be Alzheimer’s with it’s accumulations of amyloid proteins. One researcher studying Alzheimer’s said

“Understanding how the brain copes with waste is critical. In every organ, waste clearance is as basic an issue as how nutrients are delivered. In the brain, it’s an especially interesting subject, because in essentially all neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, protein waste accumulates and eventually suffocates and kills the neuronal network of the brain.”

ME/CFS?

Chronic fatigue syndrome could fit in that picture. The high brain lactate levels and low glutathione levels Shungu found in ME/CFS patient brains suggest high rates of anaerobic energy production and its accompanying toxic by-products could be present. The recent Japanese study suggested inflammation was present. Low blood flows to the brain could easily be producing high levels of “garbage”. (Stroke is another condition the new findings could illuminate.)

The finding will provide new insights into neuro-immune disorders

Studies indicate that most of the glymphatic flushing that occurs in the brain occurs during sleep – a problematic time for many people with ME/CFS and fibromyalgia. Then there’s Dr. Perrin who swears that his lymphatic drainage techniques help people with chronic fatigue syndrome. He believes the cognitive and other problems found in ME/CFS are due to too much sludge in the system.

It’s not clear how researchers will use this new knowledge but it is clear that tools are present that can exploit this new finding and provide better understanding of neuro-immune disorders – perhaps at some point even ME/CFS.

Everyone’s Nightmare

It was a nightmarish situation. Struck down by ME/CFS at the age of eight after a series of staph/herpes infections and infectious mononucleosis, the Spearing’s formerly healthy and energetic daughter, Stephanie, was soon confined to her bed.

Then it got worse. Much worse. As Stephanie’s illness progressed, severe sensory problems left her unable to tolerate bright light, sounds, smells and touch. Migratory nerve and abdominal pain left her in severe pain much of the time. Dysautonomia and muscle weakness left her unable to walk. Food sensitivities and gut problems left her unable to tolerate many foods and her weight dropped precipitously. The UK health authorities were – surprise, surprise – no help at all. They didn’t even attempt to be polite in their denials.

Improvement

Stephanie has improved tremendously but is still far from being able to lead a normal life

It was a tragic story that could have easily lead to an even more tragic ending but Stephanie’s move out of the damp UK into the colder but drier climate and more ME friendly health system in Canada helped Rest and more rest, dietary changes, probiotics and immune supplements produced progress.

Seven years later Stephanie is still weak but she no longer experiences the severe sensory problems and pain she once did. She’s not in school but no longer needs her wheelchair and is able to go on walks. Stephanie’s reduced suffering is a great relief to her parents but they want their entire daughter back.

Riding for ME/CFS Research

They want real relief. They want mounds of research. They want their daughter well and they don’t want anyone else to go through what Stephanie and they went through. The awful nights. The walking on tiptoes in order not to cause their daughter – huddled in her bed upstairs – pain from too much noise. The ugly comments from the medical authorities.

Everyone is affected by these severe illnesses. Some give up in the face of the opposition but Peter Spearing has just gotten more determined. In three days in his Ride For ME/CFS Research Peter is riding 100 kilometers in Tour de l’Île de Montréal cycling event to raise funds for the Simmaron Research Foundation. He’s going to ride full out – as hard as he can.

The Institute’s collaborative efforts with top researchers and Dr. Peterson’s years of experience drew the Spearmans to the Simmaron Research Institute

When asked why they choose the Simmaron Research Institute Stephanie’s mother Suzy emphasized Dr. Peterson’s years of experience, and the close ties the Institute has forged with important research efforts across the globe. One of the first articles they read about ME/CFS, she noted, involved Dr. Peterson’s efforts in the Incline Village outbreak over thirty years ago.

Created in 2012, the Simmaron Research Institute is dedicated to scientifically redefining how ME/CFS is studied and treated. It’s dedicated to giving people like Stephanie options. To breaking up the ignorance that is causing so many people to be cruelly treated. To producing an environment in which ME/CFS is given the resources that other chronic illnesses are.

The Institute is currently participating in and/or funding work on

The gut microbiome

Tick, mosquito borne and other pathogens

Determining subsets and defining ME/CFS

Epidemiology including the long term effects of ME/CFS

A genomic analysis of immune cell functioning

The cause of the natural killer cell dysfunction

The extent of severe T-cell abnormalities found

Autoimmunity, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and cancer prevalence

Ampligen’s effectiveness in treating ME/CFS

Spearheading efforts to make immune tests a standard part of diagnostic protocols

Collaborating with Columbia University to train future doctors how to treat ME/CFS

The Simmaron Research Institute is dedicated to scientifically redefining ME/CFS

Peter, Suzanne and Stephanie request that you support Peter’s efforts to bolster ME/CFS research by donating to the Simmaron Research Institute here. Everyone, young and old, deserves a shot at a normal, healthy life. (Please reference Stephanie Spearing in the dedication box provided).

If Dr. Pridgen is right, his protocol for treating fibromyalgia could end up turning the medical world’s conception of FM (and perhaps even chronic fatigue syndrome) on its head. The first treatment trial had good results but they didn’t exactly turn the FM world upside down. Geoff Langhorne asked him about that in an interview a couple of months ago and I followed up with my own questions.

A confident Dr. Pridgen explained why the first trials result were good but not earth-shattering and why the next trial results will be better. First some background.

How it Happened

“It was never my intention to be involved in Fibromyalgia” William Pridgen

Pridgen didn’t start out to treat fibromyalgia – he was simply trying to get at what was causing the diarrhea/constipation and abdominal pain in his patients. Both he and his mother – a virologist – recognized that the pattern he kept seeing –stubborn symptoms which got better with treatment then got worse, and then better and then worse – could reflect a virus getting reactivated, then knocked down, reactivated then knocked down. Throw in the fact that his patients gut problems typically got worse during stressful events and a herpesvirus infection became a viable option.

The pattern of remission and then relapse, particularly, after stressful situation, suggested herpesviruses.

Pridgen started off giving a couple of his patients a single antiviral herpesvirus drug. The fact that some of the patients did get better encouraged him, but it was not until he combined it with the anti-inflammatory Celexicob (Celebrex) that he really began to see results.

The big surprise was that his patients were reporting relief from a whole panoply of other symptoms. Their fatigue, their headaches, their muscle and joint pains, their sleep problems, their difficulty relaxing – all were improved. By the time twenty or thirty patients had reported this he really began to take notice.

“Holy crud!” in the interview he stated, “I discovered something.”

He switched gears and began offering the drug combo to people with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. He lambasted the idea that fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome are difficult diagnoses to make. As soon as he knew what these illnesses looked like, he said, anyone working in his office could spot them immediately.

Fixing What’s Broken

Patients tended to sporadically improve early with the full effects showing up after about three months. He wasn’t just treating herpesvirus infections, however. Asserting that these diseases “break things”, he also worked on their treatment resistant sinusitis, acid reflux, thyroid issues, insomnia, anxiety, and depression.

Pridgen asserted it’s necessary to fix what else is broken for his protocol to have full effect.

In fact, his first step was to figure out what was broken and fix it and then put them on the drug combo “. He said “if you’ve done a good job with the first half” then 12 to 14 weeks into the treatment program a “switch” often gets flipped with people feeling a whole lot better.

Geoff then asked a great question – would you characterize this as a cure or a successful treatment? Pridgen stated that you can’t “cure” or eliminate viruses, but that he did feel that his treatment protocol was getting at the core of the disease. Note, however, that Dr. Pridgen did put that qualifier – “If you’ve done a good job with the first half” – in. It’s important to treat the depression or generalized anxiety disorder, symptomatic gallbladder disease, severe reflux and chronic nonseasonal sinusitis, etc. for his combination treatment to optimally work.

His protocol, he believes, is much more effective at symptom reduction than the drugs currently approved for fibromyalgia. He does not feel those meds get at the core of the disorder: his does.

Herpes Simplex Virus-1

The predominant virus he believes that is causing the pain in fibromyalgia is herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1). HSV-1 has been put in the “fever-blister” category; it causes some unpleasant symptoms and nothing more. Pridgen believes that view and the accompanying attitude of benign neglect towards the virus HSV-1 are disappearing.

HSV-1, it turns out, isn’t always so benign, after all. Yes, the initial infection is usually mild. And yes, essentially everyone, including healthy people, is exposed to and carries HSV-1 in their body.

HSV-1 hangs out in the neurons. In susceptible people that could be a problem.

Like the other herpesviruses, however, HSV-1 persists in the body hanging out in the neurons. After the initial infection, HSV-1 is able, in some people, to become reactivated, travel up the axon of the neuron to the nerve centers – waiting to be reawakened by a stressor.

Studies indicate that almost any stressor including colds, eczema, menstruation, emotional and physical stress, stomach upset, fatigue or injury can reactivate it. It can cause encephalitis and blindness, and some evidence suggests it’s associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Vaccines for HSV-2, a close cousin to HSV-1, are being worked on. If HSV-1 does end up being the cause of fibromyalgia, Pridgen believes widespread HSV-2 vaccination could, just as vaccines have put an end to measles, chickenpox, hepatitis and other viral illnesses, help put an end to fibromyalgia. A vaccine, by the way, could also potentially help some people who already have fibromyalgia much like the shingles vaccine helps people with Varicella Zoster reactivation.

The First Trial

“We didn’t get a 60-70% efficacy, because it wasn’t our ideal dose and a lot of patients had other conditions they couldn’t get fixed in a trial like that.”

If you’ve been following the Pridgen story you’ve probably heard of people who’ve tried the Famvir/Celebrex combination who’ve done well and others who haven’t. Pridgen addressed the variability in results in his protocol by asserting that the doses aren’t set and that many of the participants had more than fibromyalgia to deal with.

The trial was less restrictive than most other phase 2 (FDA approved) FM trials where men or people with severe depression weren’t allowed to enroll. He said they pretty much let everybody with FM in.

He also stated that if the patients failed to commit to fixing the secondary problems they didn’t do as well. The FDA also required only one dose be used in the trial – and that dose was not their “favorite” one.

Fifty-three percent of the patients in the trial had at least a thirty percent reduction in pain. That’s a good but not great figure, but Pridgen noted that almost forty percent had at least a fifty percent reduction in pain – and that’s a very good figure for FM. Already their stats, he stated, may prove to be better than the three FDA approved drugs for FM – and he hasn’t been able to use the dose he ultimately intends to market. He stated that some of the world class experts on IMC’s scientific advisory board have said they had “never seen pain data like this” for FM before.

The Next Trials

The next phase three trials, though, will be slightly more selective as the fibromyalgia patients will not have as many “extra conditions”.

It’s going to take time to raise the money and then do two phase III trials – which can be run side by side. While there may be one dose that works best for the most people, Pridgen asserted that no dose is perfect for this variable population and they’ll probably do a dose-ranging study to get at the variability.

They’re trying to get FDA to fast-track the next trials. My guess is that patient enrollment will not be a problem; they expected it to take nine months to enroll the last study and they did it in three.

When asked how the phase three trials are coming Pridgen stated, “We’re moving as fast as we can….This is not an easy process.”

Confident

“I feel very confident that the next two trials will be far more impressive”.

Dr. Pridgen appears to be utterly confident he’s on the right track. He said he’s seen a 1,000 plus FM patients and an equal number of chronic fatigue patients.

Prigen asserts many people have gotten well using his protocol.

“If a patient does what we tell them to do and they jump through the appropriate hoops it’s unbelievable what happens to these people – they do so much better” Skip Pridgen

When the Blue Ribbon Project came to Tuscaloosa, it was the only place, he said, they saw people getting better.

He said he’s seen “countless” patients get well and go on with their lives, including very ill patients. “I’ve had some tremendously ill patients who get their life back….get back to working again.”

They come from all over. He gets the protocol started and then refers them back to their physicians. His Canadian and Australian patients have a good chance of continuing with the protocol because their physicians are more open minded, but the Brits often run into a wall so unless they can cross the Atlantic, presently they are receiving little support from their own medical profession.

Dr. Pridgen Talks

When do you expect the study to be published?

Dr. Carol Duffy is feverishly working on the manuscript and should be submitting it for publication this summer, hopefully in one of the premier pain journals.

How did you, a surgeon, end up treating people with gut problems?

Many general surgeons perform endoscopies in their practice of medicine.

How did you get the idea to combine the antiviral with an anti-inflammatory?

I was merely giving them a NSAID for their joint pains, and serendipitously noticed the two drugs when combined had unexpected benefits. I’d never heard of anti-inflammatories used to hit viruses before. Virologists have known for two decades, though, that NSAID had antiviral properties.

You presented a very different model of fibromyalgia at the Rheumatology Conference than rheumatologist are used to. I don’t know if anyone has looked at fibromyalgia as a herpesvirus disorder let alone treated people with antivirals. What kind of reception did your talk receive?

Lot’s of questions, none too difficult to answer and generally it was well received even if the attendance was not ideal.

Pridgen and Duffy believe three sites in the body may be particularly affected in fibromyalgia: the gut, the vagus nerve and the sinus area

I know someone who couldn’t tolerate the Famvir but did very well on Celebrex for six months when everything fell apart again.

There are other options, and if his physician had reached out to me, I would have given the physician everything they needed to help that patient.

What can you say about the gut tissue biopsy results?

The preliminary data was presented a little over a year ago at an international virology meeting, and for patients who have FM 100% of those patients have HSV-1 data in their biopsies and 80% have a protein that is found only in cells that are actively infected with HSV-1.

If HSV-1 is found in the guts of FM patients is it your guess that it’s probably reactivating elsewhere?

The vagus nerve is the nerve that controls the gut and the virus lives in its ganglion. We postulate that there are two other major sites, the sinuses, and the urinary bladder, that are also likely sites of chronic reactivation.

If it’s active in the gut would you expect to see an increased incidence of cold sores in FM?

Approximately 30% of the population suffers from cold sores. If you go to the innovativemedconcepts.com site you will be able to watch a couple of video’s that explain this better.

Has Pridgen cracked at least part of fibromyalgia? Time will tell. The big studies are next…

You tried several different combinations of drugs and Famvir turned out to be the antiviral of choice for the fibromyalgia patients in your study. Do you have any idea why Famvir was more effective than the other drugs?

(Dr. Pridgen said that’s a trade secret for now.)

In your experience are people who improve dramatically able to get off the drugs and maintain their improvement for a considerable amount of time?

Absolutely not! The moment they stop the meds the next time they are severely stressed the condition returns. You can’t stop diabetes, hypertension, and cholesterol medications and you can’t stop these.

An anachronism from the day it was published, the 17 page, large-type Toolkit looked like a cartoon copy of how to identify and treat ME/CFS next to the 42 page, densely detailed IACFS/ME Primer released in 2012. It was a Toolkit with decidedly few tools.

An anachronism from the day it was published, the Toolkit was finally knocked out by the IOM report

The limited recommendations in the Toolkit, and before that on the CDC website, have been a source of frustrations for patients and knowledgeable medical providers for many years. It’s been exhibit one for patients wishing to portray the CDC as being out of touch.

The Toolkit stated that a team of doctors and mental health professionals and physical therapists were best suited to treat ME/CFS. It emphasized therapies that addressed coping, symptoms and activity management.

Several assertions in the Toolkit that came out of the CDC’s randomly sampled population studies using the Empirical Definition people were controversial. They included statements that people ME/CFS are more likely to be obese, experience insulin resistance and have metabolic syndrome.

To its credit, the Toolkit did note the need for lower doses of medication, asserted that antidepressants were effective only for those with clinical depression and, while promoting exercise, provided substantial warnings about it.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), graded exercise therapy (GET) and sleep, however, were the only treatments covered in any kind of depth. While the Toolkit stated exercise programs should not increase patients symptoms, it also suggested that exercise therapy would ultimately enable people with ME/CFS to “go about their daily life(s)”.

The Toolkit has been buried deep in the CDC’s website.

In contrast to the Primer which identified what are now accepted as core symptoms of the disorder, the Toolkit stuck with symptoms associated with the 20 year old Fukuda definition. The Toolkit identified seven co-morbid condition – several of which are questionable; the Primer – 48. The Toolkit identified ten illnesses that can mimic ME/CFS; the Primer – 55.

The Toolkit provided no specific recommendations on drug treatments; the Primer provided 49 recommendations. The Toolkit provided no recommendations for managing pain; the primer provided recommendations on both non-drug and drug approaches to pain. The Toolkit provided no recommendations on cognitive issues, orthostatic intolerance, gut problems, etc. The list goes on and on.

The Toolkit has influenced the treatment recommendations on many major medical websites. Now, in response to the IOM Report, it’s essentially gone. You can find an archived version of it on the website, but the CDC is clearly not standing by the Toolkit anymore.

It’s abrupt removal suggests major changes are in store. With the IOM report proposing new diagnostic protocols that was expected. It couldn’t have happened too soon.